Native Youth and Culture Fund

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Native Youth and Culture Fund (NYCF)

First Nations launched the NYCF in 2002 with generous support from Kalliopeia Foundation and other foundations and tribal, corporate and individual supporters. The NYCF is designed to enhance culture and language awareness, and promote youth empowerment, leadership and community building. This year’s funding is provided by Kalliopeia Foundation and an anonymous donor. Including awards made in 2017, First Nations has awarded more than 350 grants to Native youth programs throughout the U.S., totaling $5.96 million.

In 2017, First Nations awarded grants to 22 Native organizations across the U.S. totaling $410,000. In 2016, grants were awarded to 24 programs totaling $432,000, and, in 2015, 26 grants were made to American Indian and Native Hawaiian organizations. Thousands of tribal youth have been and are being served through those innovative efforts, which ranged from culture camps and language nests, to business classes and financial education workshops, to agriculture and other food-based activities.

In 2017 First Nations awarded $410,000 to 22 organizations.

The project serves Native youth in the center’s tri-county, rural service area of Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino Counties. The youth, ages 11-18, are members of or descended from five tribes in the region, with the primary affiliations being Pomo and Coast Miwok. They work with Native elders and adults to produce K-12 curriculum videos for a program that serves all Native youth in the region.

Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Odanah, Wisconsin, $18,200

"Weshki Niigaaniijig - Young Leaders" serves tribal youth, ages 13-18, in developing leadership and role-modeling skills through projects focused on traditional Anishinaabe harvesting activities. The youth will teach cultural harvesting practices to other youth in four communities, thereby encouraging development of positive cultural role models.

Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe, Hollister North Carolina, $20,000

This project focuses on reclaiming traditional coming-of-age ceremonies for boys and girls ages 13-18 by connecting youth and elders, culturally and spiritually, to their history. By engaging the elders to share their wisdom and cultural knowledge, the youth participate in workshops that teach them fundamental lessons and help document disappearing cultural traditions. These youth will then teach the next generation.

Hoopa Valley Tribe, Hoopa, California, $20,000

The xo'ji kya' project provides an opportunity for young Native women to work closely with female cultural experts/elders/regalia-makers to make ceremonial dresses and document the process to share with the community via videos and manuals. Each young woman is expected to pass on the knowledge to other young women.

Ilisagvik College, Barrow, Alaska, $20,000

During the summer, the college implemented three cultural camps for Alaska Native youth ages 13-25 on Iñupiaq Land Use, Values, and Resources; Iñupiaq Arts and Culture; and an Iñupiaq Immersion camp. The camps focused on traditional hunting/camping/gathering skills; Iñupiaq language, grammar and linguistic development; and exploring art, history, culture and expression through an Iñupiat worldview.

Lakota Cultural Center, Eagle Butte, South Dakota, $20,000

This project passes on cultural arts and knowledge from the elder generation to the next on the Cheyenne River Reservation. A series of cultural arts courses will be held in order to begin building the next generation of culture bearers within the Lakota community.

Lakota Language Consortium, Bloomington, Indiana, $3,300

This project identifies young members of the Lakota Nation and trains them simultaneously as language learners and teachers. The Lakota Summer Institute is a four-week boot camp at Sitting Bull College where youth learn Lakota language, phonology and teaching methods and, empowered with these skills, return to their communities where they will host and teach their own language workshops.

Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Cass Lake, Minnesota, $20,000

Our "Heritage, Culture and Traditions - Uniting Youth and Elders" pilot project will bring youth ages 14 to 24 and tribal elders together to plan, implement and evaluate a cultural (aanji-bimaadizi - change life) learning center program for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. This initiative will establish the foundation, tools and community investment required to develop a sustainable program and permanent site for future generations.

Because of a history of assimilation through education, youth are struggling emotionally and spiritually without purpose or place. Regenerating rites-of-passage ceremonies to connect youth to themselves and their purpose is critical. Because many families are disconnected from traditions, there is unfamiliarity with and lack of access to ceremony. This project addresses this, and will increase the number of youth ages 10-19 who demonstrate positive identity development and increased cultural knowledge.

Medicine Lodge Confederacy, Garrison, North Dakota, $20,000

The Arikara Tribe has historically had young men societies where they were mentored by older men. The confederacy is striving to revive these ways of teaching. The Star Boy Camp will recruit young men ages 12 to 15 and teach them the skills of leadership, communication, confidence and self-discipline. Those who excel will become peer counselors during the next year.

Native Women's Society of the Great Plains, Eagle Butte, South Dakota, $20,000

Native Women's Society of the Great Plains has a 24 members on reservations on the Northern Plains. There are 10 shelters for women and their children. The Empowering Children in Shelter project will focus on three of the shelters of the Santee Sioux Tribe, Oglala Nation and Rosebud Sioux Tribe. The project will enhance the environment for these children with cultural activities and ceremonies during their healing from trauma.

Navajo Studies Conference, Inc., Albuquerque, New Mexico, $20,000

The organization will work with youth and elders during the school year. The teams will form Diné Alliances and will be responsible for development of a cultural project that responds to a social issue. These partnerships will have a lasting impact for the next generation and will be recorded. The Dine' Alliances will post their cultural projects online.

Ogallala Commons, Inc., Nazareth, Texas, $14,000

Since 2013, First Nations has funded 13 Native internships through the Ogallala Commons Community Internship Program. This grant will fund additional internships, one each on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations, and one in North Dakota, as well as intern travel to attend the orientation retreat in Texas and the convening of two youth-engagement days for high school students at Sinte Gleska University and Oglala Lakota College.

Osage Nation, Pawhuska Oklahoma, $19,800

Trunks of culturally and spiritually significant items will be transported countywide by the Osage Nation Cultural Center staff (accompanied by tribal elders and youth to assist as curriculum guides and with interactive presentations) to schools and youth events. This will increase youth access to hands-on, multi-generational interactions that serve to preserve, strengthen and renew Osage traditions and beliefs.

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, Nixon, Nevada, $20,000

The Summer Cultural Day Camp and activities planned throughout the year will teach children their Northern Paiute culture and heritage through language immersion, traditional dances, oral history and the making of traditional Paiute beadwork. Elders and community members will share their knowledge in both hands-on and classroom settings.

Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, Tama, Iowa, $16,600

The grant will serve the cultural needs of youth through the creation of Iowa hand drums, one large drum, two-piece dresses, the learning of traditional Meskwaki songs and the learning of traditional Meskwaki dances. The grant will serve youth ages 10-18.

Santa Fe Indian School, Santa Fe, New Mexico, $20,000

The Leadership Institute will implement the 2017 Pueblo Convocation. The first Pueblo Convocation was held in 2012 and brought together more than 600 Pueblo people to learn about Pueblo priority areas. This project will add a youth track, where youth will be involved in organizing, planning, research and presentations.

The Suquamish Tribe, in collaboration with tribal employees, community members and elders, will provide two one-week trainings to introduce tribal youth to traditions and practices regarding local subsistence foods. This programs will focus on how science and sovereignty support traditional tribal values as well as provide an opportunity for tribal youth to explore career paths within the tribe and develop their mentoring skills.

TC Roughriders 4-H Club, Walthill, Nebraska, $20,000

Children and young adults will learn to identify traditional foods and ceremonial plants that are important to the Omaha Nation. Tribal elders and other experts will conduct educational activities outdoors and in the kitchen. Participants will learn Omaha language words for the plants and food products. The youth will meet the elders and learn their stories of using these foods and of growing up Omaha. These activities will provide alternatives to unhealthful choices for at-risk children.

The summer farm camp is a learning opportunity for local tribal students ranging from grades 5 to 8. This serves as a bridge between youth and elders by providing hands-on cultural crafts, traditional farming techniques, Apache language, wild foods gathering, food preservation, and education on food sovereignty. All major communities on the reservation will be included.

Woodland Boys & Girls Club, Neopit, Wisconsin, $20,000

The project aims to “Build Brighter Futures through Language & Culture” by incorporating the use of the language in programs, teaching traditional songs and dances, and teaching hunting, fishing and gathering. This will help youth develop mind, body and spirit as Native people who understand the balance in their lives. The teaching of language and culture also helps with youth self-esteem and identity issues, and builds resiliency to negative behaviors.

World Indigenous Nations University, Hula, Hawaii, $20,000

The OPIO Leadership Academy will provide training by elders/cultural Hawaii Pasifika (WINU HP) mentors/master practitioners to 20 aspiring Native youth in Hawaii, in the traditional practices of Hawaiian healing arts. Training will incorporate traditional protocols, practices, performance and proficiencies specific to each healing art. Youth participants will demonstrate their understanding, knowledge and application of these principles and practices in family, school and community settings through a community-wide Hoike or public performance.

In 2016 First Nations awarded $432,000 to 24 organizations.

Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Poplar, Montana, $18,615

The grant will support activities in the Fort Peck Language and Culture Department Summer Program, including field trips, medicinal plant digging, cultural activities, and language lessons in both the classroom and within ceremonies.

Bad River Housing Authority, Odanah, Wisconsin, $20,000

The “Baaga'adowe (lacrosse)” project returns a sporting tradition to Bad River. Mentors, players and others will reintroduce baaga'adowe to the community. The program will include training in the history, language, team-building, values and technical skills of the sport.

"Awl Yeah" (Youth Engaging in Arts History) will engage youth in learning about traditional basketweaving from elders, including gathering, preparation and storage of materials. Youth will create videos of their experience and share them through social media.

This project will engage youth in traditional art mediums such as drum making and beading while providing them with professional development to help turn their artistic ideas into businesses. It will also engage elders who will create art with the youth while sharing their wisdom and traditional knowledge.

Chief Joseph Foundation, Lapwai, Idaho, $18,900

"Riding in the Roundup" gives reservation youth an opportunity to learn about traditional Nez Perce culture and the historical and cultural significance of the horse. Tribal elders will share their knowledge and hand down traditions to the youth through the creation of traditional dress and regalia.

Dzil Dit L’ooí School of Empowerment, Action and Perseverance, Navajo, New Mexico, $20,000

"The "Strengthening and Reclaiming Diné Culture and Tradition through Kinaaldá (Puberty Ceremonies)" project will provide important rites of passage for both boys and girls, connecting youth culturally and spiritually to their history and place, supporting holistic wellness, and reinforcing bonds between youth, elders and family.

Four Directions Development Corporation, Orono, Maine, $20,000

Under the “Wabanaki Marketplace Youth & Culture Program,” students will develop products to sell online, attend small-business and financial capabilities workshops, and connect with others in Maine and beyond with whom they can share the beauty and richness of Wabanaki art.

Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Odanah, Wisconsin, $18,250

In the "Waatebagaa (Changing Leaves) Gathering," tribal elders will engage numerous tribal youth in learning traditional Anishinaabe autumn activities during a two-day event. Conservation officers will also demonstrate procedures for utilizing treaty-reserved rights, as well as safe harvesting skills. This program aims to increase tribal youth knowledge in harvesting and protecting natural resources and environmental stewardship, while promoting natural resource careers.

Ho-Chunk Nation, Black River Falls, Wisconsin, $14,630

In the “Digital Storytelling Pilot,” students will learn to understand their own identities and what it means to be Ho-Chunk through the creation and publication of an online story that discusses an object from their own homes. These stories will utilize museum terms, Ho-Chunk terms, historic information and cultural knowledge about their chosen objects.

The Hopi School, Inc., Hotevilla, Arizona, $17,380

The “Hopitutuqaiki Summer Arts Program” serves students in the areas of Hopi language, arts and crafts, and values and culture. This project develops basic Hopi language skills for children ages 4 and 5 through daily preschool activities in the arts and academics, and field trips that bring together classroom and cultural ideas.

The “Across the Generations: Elders to Children” program serves children ages 2.5 to 7 and involves elders who are helping identify traditional knowledge, practices and beliefs to develop into lessons for the classroom, cementing intergenerational relationships traditional to Cochiti. This is a crucial step in reclaiming the education of children and revitalizing the language. Cochiti elders will also continue to build the library by recording books in the Keres language.

Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Pembroke, North Carolina, $20,000

Under the Lumbee Chapter’s "Unlocking Silent Histories" project, youth will produce short documentaries that capture, represent and revitalize disappearing cultural knowledge, traditions and languages. The program is designed to develop youth leaders who use the film production and technology skills they acquire to teach new groups of youth. Unlocking Silent Histories is a nonprofit that opens spaces for Indigenous youth to critically analyze how they are represented in the media and to creatively express their perspectives.

Ogallala Commons, Inc., Nazareth, Texas, $10,200

This grant supports Community Internships for Native Partners 2016. These internships can range from four to 10 weeks and are available for students who are sophomores in high school to college and graduate students, or adults looking to build new skills. Interns are exposed to experiences essential to living in the Great Plains, such as supporting local food production, stewarding natural resources, learning and sharing local history, youth engagement and entrepreneurship, community celebrations, public speaking, fostering a sense of place, and career-path development.

Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, $20,000

Working with Dina Kagan, an award-winning local filmmaker, the “Pascua Yaqui Youth Filmmaking Project” will teach youth the basic skills of documentary and narrative filmmaking. They will produce three short films on the subject of their choice and will also record several Pascua Yaqui elders sharing Native legends and myths, creating a compilation of all recordings to be preserved at the reservation library. A longer narrative film based on one of the stories will be produced and screened on the reservation and at the Native Eyes Film Showcase.

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, Nixon, Nevada, $20,000

The “Cultural Summer Day Camp” is designed to teach elementary youth Paiute culture and heritage through language immersion and through classes on traditional Paiute dances, songs, games and construction of traditional clothing.

Quileute Tribe, La Push, Washington, $20,000

The "Quileute Youth Telling the Quileute Story" project will provide tribal youth with new skills in the field of video production. Youth will complete 64 hours of workshops provided by area television professionals. They will apply the skills they have learned to create a series of videos and documentaries that capture Quileute history, culture and contemporary life, and which will serve as means of preserving and documenting the history and traditions of the tribe.

Santa Fe Indian School, Santa Fe, New Mexico, $20,000

“Brave Girls,” a project of the Leadership Institute at the Santa Fe Indian School, develops leadership skills and provides mentoring opportunities for the young women who are part of the Student Living Program. Community partnerships assist in serving and educating the young women with professional guest speakers and mentors who further their leadership development.

Santo Domingo Pueblo, Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico, $19,705

The "Pull Back to Launch Forward" project will utilize approximately 30 Native youth ages 13 to 21 as mentors to 50 youth ages 9-12 in teaching the traditional practice of bow and arrow making, traditional hunting, and other cultural practices.

The Suquamish Tribe's Sports and Recreation Department, in collaboration with the tribal language program and the Natural Resources Department, will provide two one-week-long cultural day camps for youth ages 8 to 14. The culture camps will be based around the theme "the teachings of the Longhouse” and will introduce youth to Suquamish language and culture.

Tewa Women United, Española, New Mexico, $20,000

The "Butterfly Wings" project will implement an innovative and comprehensive approach to sexual and reproductive health education by strengthening and expanding the core components of the A'Gin Healthy Sexuality Body Sovereignty Project. It will serve girls and young women from the Tewa-speaking pueblos of Nambé, Ohkay Owingeh, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara and Tesuque.

Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, Porcupine, South Dakota, $20,000

Lakȟotiya Škiŋčiyapi develops the leadership skills and cultural knowledge of high school students in order to help mentor elementary and middle school children in athletics and health. Mentors are taught Lakota vocabulary, athletic and health information, and will learn about how the ehaŋni Lakȟol wičhouŋ was bound with physical activity. Youth will also develop personal success plans for their future, including education, job, language and culture goals, and healthy lifestyle goals.

The “Artistic Renewal and Preservation Native American Dance Troupe” provides an opportunity for Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa youth to learn traditional dances, create traditional regalia, beadwork and moccasins, and showcase their artistic skills through performances in the community.

The grant supports the Native Youth in Food & Agriculture Summer Leadership Summit III (2016). The summit encourages, supports and provides education and development to Native youth, with the intention of developing the next generation of food leaders in Indian Country.

Utah Diné Bikéyah, Salt Lake City, Utah, $20,000

The "Building Native American Youth Cultural Awareness and Leadership" project aims to engage, motivate and train local Native youth in documenting, mapping and archiving traditional knowledge and activities across the Bears Ears landscape. Working with tribal elders and spiritual leaders, the project will provide exposure and training for Ute Mountain Ute youth in the methods and applications of utilizing traditional knowledge and mapping cultural values.

In 2015 First Nations awarded $460,000 to 26 organizations.

Boys & Girls Club of Rosebud, Mission, South Dakota, $20,000

Approximately 100 youth will participate in activities involving Lakota culture and language, lacrosse, archery and gardening.

Twenty Native youth will participate in a business program that teaches skills and strategies needed to establish a successful Native arts microenterprise.

Club Unity, Arlee, Montana, $14,362

Twenty youth and elders from the Flathead Indian Reservation will make a documentary to help preserve their culture, language and traditions.

Euchee (Yuchi) Language Project, Inc., Sapulpa, Oklahoma, $20,000

Four youth interns will shadow professionals working in the field of Yuchi cultural revitalization. Additionally, they will host a culture camp for other youth that focuses on Yuchi ceremonial dances and songs.

More than 100 youth will participate in a series of workshops that focus on first aid and herbal medicine knowledge as well as traditional canoe journey teachings and community gardening.

Ogallala Commons, Nazareth, Texas, $9,200

This project will support four summer or semester-long community internships. Each community intern will work on local food projects and activities that promote and enhance Native food sovereignty.

Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, $17,482

Eighty youth will participate in a financial education program. They will design, market and sell an art project then use the funds raised from their project to open a Youth Savings Account.

Penobscot Nation Youth Program, Indian Island, Maine, $20,000

Youth ranging from ages 7-18 will construct a traditional birch bark canoe and also learn Penobscot language, history and stories.

Pueblo of Acoma, Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico, $20,000

Thirty youth will participate in a new series of youth classes at the Acoma Learning Center that focus on Keres culture, language, health and religion.

Pueblo of Nambe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, $17,596

Thirty youth will participate in a renovation project. They will help rebuild the local basketball and tennis courts to include more seating and a fire pit. This new space will be used to host community events.

Twenty youth will participate in weekly lessons about the Ojibwe tenets of good citizenship and the nine universal lessons of courage, cooperation and honor through traditional stories and activities.

Santa Fe Indian School, Santa Fe, New Mexico, $20,000

Expand existing program that focuses on female empowerment. Specifically, create a new mentorship program that emphasizes academic success and professional development.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Fort Yates, North Dakota, $20,000

Establish curriculum for a language nest for pre-school students. A translator will translate activities, lessons and videos into the Dakota and Lakota languages for students and parents.

Sus’tainable Molokai, Kaunkakai, Hawaii, $17,434

One local college student will be trained in food sovereignty leadership. This student will design and pilot a mentorship program with other local youth that focuses on agriculture, business and entrepreneurship.

The Hopi School, Hotevilla, Arizona, $19,724

Students K-12 will participate in several classes that seek to strengthen and renew Hopi cultural weaving practices, values and language.

Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, Porcupine, South Dakota, $20,000

Twenty-five youth will participate in a leadership program where they will visit seven sacred Lakota sites, prepare traditional Sun Dance grounds and participate in professional development classes.

More than 40 youth will participate in a series of classes and workshops on Wampanoag culture and language that are intended to increase cultural pride and self-esteem.

Zuni Youth Enrichment Project, Zuni, New Mexico, $20,000

Fifteen youth will participate in a leadership retreat that will teach them the skills and knowledge they need to mentor younger community members. After the retreat, they will host a camp for 65 youth ages 6-11.